Friday, August 11, 2017

Games (of mine) People Play

People say nice things about the games I run, so consider this my thank you! I wouldn't run these games if I didn't have great players coming to the "table."

Anne at DIY & Dragons has done two great write-ups of the Scarabae games of mine that she's played in. The first one, House Cleaning a Memory Palace, is here. I especially liked reading more about her character; Traviata is a really interesting character, so the deeper dive into the inspirations behind her was illuminating. The second one, Iditarod & Medvac in Scarabae is here. That one is a really good window for me into seeing how players perceive the setting and what they get out of it. It also sheds some light on my own unconscious influences. When she writes "This reminds me of what an abortion clinic looks like when it's being besieged by anti-rights activists," I don't think she's wrong at all--even if that isn't what I had immediately in mind. I find that things like that happen all the time with Scarabae; there seems to be a lot of channeling of contemporary, real world influences that sneak into the adventures without me noticing them. For example, the adventure in which the players explored a warped pizzeria seemed like the specter of Comet Ping Pong in retrospect.

Trey has a post over at his blog From the Sorcerer's Skull talking about the G+ Hangouts games he's been playing in, and he has some kind words for my ongoing campaign set in Krevborna. He also talks about the GRIDSHOCK playtest that Paul V's been running; since I also play in that one, I can verify Trey's claim that it's a good time. I would tell you that Trey's blog is great, but you probably already read it.